Budget Airlines, are they really budget travel ?

[easygeld]

I have recently traveled with Air Asia on an international flight from Melbourne to KL & return and really by the time I added the costs for baggage, food, drinks, seat choice etc I raise the question where was my cheap flight cost? As well as the lower standards of traveling, whereby the lack of customer services, plus the need to carry cash on board for drinks and snacks, which ended up being expensive and over priced, because due to security now you cannot take your own on board, so the airline seems to feel it can enjoy the freedom to over charge because you have no choice. Generally I appreciate the concept but the concept is a myth and a marketing idea really I feel, quite simply consumers are being brain washed into thinking their getting a cheaper flight, but if something goes wrong, your slightly over on your luggage, or late at the airport, or you even miss your flight, then WOW cash time the budget airline hits you big time. Not that they value your business and then book you onto the next flight free of charge, or appreciate some give and take or that your the customer and without us they do not have a business. Plus also consider if your a few kilos over, or sorry we run out of drinks, or do not have enough food on board, even though we want to charge you for it at overly price amounts. Sorry but common sense is needed here, consumers need to weigh up carefully all the costs associated with flying not just the ticket, plus the balance of good quality customer service or not prior to deciding which airline to fly with. Choose carefully and add up all the expected costs, plus incidentals and such possible costs that could be unexpected, then see whether or not your getting a better deal flying with a so called budget carrier, or one who just pretends to be, and has you tied up in all sorts of small print of conditions that are manipulated to take away any sort of fairness or common sense, just to make more profits for the airline.

 

[gilby08]

In regards to that last line, why can't business make money?? We are not living in a communist society are we?
Don't like it, don't travel with them..

 

[samh004]

What you have basically outlined is what everyone always says with regard to budget “pay-as-you-go” carriers, there’s always hidden costs. If you’re fine with not eating, sitting wherever and only taking a backpack or the shirt on your back, they may be useful to you, but once you factor those things in, probably not so.

And boy was that a large paragraph of text, could have done with being split up a little.

 

[easygeld]

In regards to that last line, why can't business make money?? We are not living in a communist society are we?
Don't like it, don't travel with them..

That is what I am saying and exposing for others to do, best way for the consumer to vote is together(united) and avoid choosing those airlines which do not provide for the customer as a VIP, irrelevant to what you paid for the ticket. I agree all business needs to make a profit but one that is balanced to the services and product their providing. So to give an example a budget airline should charge budget prices for the drinks and food, not take advantage, they should charge on the same basis they attracted you to their airline in the first place, not get you on board make you a captive audience and then hit you with over priced food, drink, entertainment, etc.. You'd hope consumers will get wise..!!

 

[dajop]

Generally I appreciate the concept but the concept is a myth and a marketing idea really I feel, quite simply consumers are being brain washed into thinking their getting a cheaper flight,

To answer this and your original question it is an over simplification to say budget airlines do or do not provide "budget travel".

Personally, I am reluctant to go anywhere near budget airlines for any travel that is longer than 4 hours. That includes travelling on Air Asia between MEL & KUL or Jetstar to the range of longer haul destinations they fly to. The value equation becomes, as you indicate less compelling when you throw in checked luggage, seat allocation, meals, drinks, in flight entertainment, etc, further compounded if you do have a value you assign to frequent flyer points - which of course budget carriers don't provide.

However, for short sectors they can provide very good value, and do provide budget travel. I often use them for short flights. After all, if I'm only going away for a day or two I don't need much luggage, and if I'm only spending an hour in the air I don't need to eat, drink, watch in flight entertainment or even particularly care about which seat I sit in. In these cases extra costs are a big fat 0. And if things do go pear shaped, going to a full service carrier at last minute on a 1 hour flight because the LCC stuffs up is not likely to be as expensive as doing so for a 7 hour flight either.

 

[harvyk]

To answer your question, if you check in luggage, have the dinner, and a few drinks, and watch some on board entertainment, are you not experiencing the "full service"?

To expect a LCC to provide the "full service" and then get surprised that the price is the same as a Full Service airline does seem a little strange to me...

All the LCC model does is uncouple the costs from the ticket, and they are quite open about this fact (remember the DJ ad a couple of years ago "Get What You Want").

Your complaint that to buy a drink or food on-board is really expensive, well it kinda needs to be... Remember when the airline sells you the can of beer there are the following costs which need to be accounted for

The first two are things which any store has to deal with...
Wholesale cost of the can of beer
Stocking the can of beer onto the plane

The next are unique costs to the airline industry...
Rental \ purchase and maintenance of the special trucks able to deliver the can of beer to the aircraft
Cooling systems appropriate for aviation (Something tells me they are a little more expensive than the fridge in your kitchen)
Fuel costs to transport that can of beer on the flight

and of-course if the can of beer is not sold on that flight, these last three costs are added again for each subsequent flight the can of beer is present on until it's sold.

Full Service airlines are lucky in this regard. That can of beer has technically already been sold, so if it's not drunk on the flight they can again "re-sell" on the next flight, because the cost of transporting that beer has already been paid for.

When you purchase say a can of coke on the ground to take on the flight with you, you know you will be drinking it. You have purchased it in a quantity which (should be) appropriate for the flight, and in any case you have a limit on how much weight you are allowed to take onboard, this onboard amount has already been pre-paid as part of your ticket.

 

[JohnK]

Not all LCCs (budget airlines if you like) are the same.

I have now travelled on A3 (Aegean Airlines) twice, once with my father, and the experience is similar to full service carriers. They have all inclusive price for the airfares (except for a 4 Euro booking surcharge) and that includes 15kg of checked luggage, ~5kg of carry on, soft drink and snack even on short 45min ATH-SKG sector. Not bad at 110 Euro for 2 people return. My mother is also booked on them for her next trip back to Greece.

And by the way we both checked-in well over 20kgs each for both flights and our carry-ons were ~10kgs if not more. We were prepared to pay excess baggage which was 2 Euro per kg. Peanuts really compared to the airfare. I believe the airline is still making money, most flights have reasonable loads, they are expanding into Europe rapidlty and best of all have really pretty flight attendants with a great attitude.

Perhaps I am being biased but other LCCs should take note how to run an airline....

 

[samh004]

The following is from another thread, in the interests of consolidating your questions/answers into one thread and not spread between multiple threads.

Please keep your views in the one topic, it’s not necessary to reply to every thread about budget carriers with the same arguments.

You started your own thread, that’s good, keep the comments there, and we wont need to follow you around to reply to essentially the same comment/viewpoint.

No they do not saying during the booking process or in their advertising, "Book your cheap flight here, but once your on board your going to be over charged for food & drinks".

As this has been explained in another thread, there’s little point going into any further detail about it, but I think the obvious answer would be “it’s common sense”. Of course the prices are going to be slightly more than on the ground!

The government make the laws based on safety & security, but should have a clause that no commercial airline can abuse or profit from this.

You SERIOUSLY want the government to tell a private business that they are not allowed to make a profit? If they don’t make a profit, how do you think they’re going to keep flying?

I know, they could raise the prices for flights… but wait a minute, then they’d be the same price as a full service carrier. You see the problem?

 

[Jacques Vert]

I had a similar experience recently.

Mrs JV & I are doing a DONE4 on points later this year. Due to the number of flights and stopovers we found it necessary to book two additional flights on BA (Glasgow-LON; LON-AMS).

I looked at Ryanair & Easyjet for a Glasgow-Heathrow flight. Ryanair was ~20quid + credit card fee+booking fee+check-in fee+baggage fee (@ 15 quid per KG) ++. Easyjet was ~29quid + extras (but not as many ++'s as Ryanair).

I eventually booked on BA for 32quid; this included 23kg baggage (each), no credit card fee, no booking fee, no administration fee, no check-in fee, + free food and drinks on board (supposedly) + lounge access (with my one world shappire) + points and status credits (but, as I understand it, at a very reduced rate). Still seems to be a better deal to me!!

I agree, that you need to look at what is included and compare to the price before deciding to part with the $.

I also agree with many other on this site that everyone is an individual with different needs, so what is best for one is not necessarily the best for another: even more reason to look at what you get v what you pay.

JV

 

[hazel]

Not all LCCs (budget airlines if you like) are the same.

I have now travelled on A3 (Aegean Airlines) twice, once with my father, and the experience is similar to full service carriers. They have all inclusive price for the airfares (except for a 4 Euro booking surcharge) and that includes 15kg of checked luggage, ~5kg of carry on, soft drink and snack even on short 45min ATH-SKG sector. Not bad at 110 Euro for 2 people return. My mother is also booked on them for her next trip back to Greece.

Perhaps I am being biased but other LCCs should take note how to run an airline....

That is good to hear - I have 2 A3 flights coming up & they were very cheap.
MJT-ATH 56 euro & ATH - VCE 83 euro, I was wondering what they would be like.

 

[oz_mark]

There is a reason they are called Low Cost Airlines, and not Low Price Airlines.

When they have sales they can be quite good. My last MEL-KUL Air Asia purchase was $169 including luggage and meal (or what passes for a meal on Air Asia).

You need to consider the whole cost when comparing airlines. They can be cheaper, but as you have discovered, they can be more expensive.

Other, less obvious things, is whether you can check bags through (LCC's are often strictly point to point airlines)

 

[harvyk]

I agree, that you need to look at what is included and compare to the price before deciding to part with the $.

And there is the problem, most people who look at LCC are wearing blinkers, they only look at LCC's thinking that it's all they can afford. Now when they add on the extra's to get the real price they don't realise that it is in some cases more expensive than the full service equivilent, because they never bothered looking.

I in some cases think this is what LCC's rely on, they pitch their marketing as being the cheap alternative, but they forget to tell people that it is for "bum on seat" only. Thus a lot of people who do use LCC's don't realise that they are paying just as much for their flight as people on the "expensive airlines". (I still love the fact that my next planned flight on QF cost me $69 each way CBR-SYD, I couldn't drive for any cheaper, especially when I factor in my time cost)

 

[Alanslegal]

I would dare to suggest that a majority of LCC flyers fly very infrequently and thus get 'caught' up in the marketing spin from these carriers - and hence, often pay close to a full service carrier and/or be dissatisfied from the actual flying experience.

 

[harvyk]

I would dare to suggest that a majority of LCC flyers fly very infrequently and thus get 'caught' up in the marketing spin from these carriers - and hence, often pay close to a full service carrier and/or be dissatisfied from the actual flying experience.

I would go one step further and say that a lot of the travellers are infrequent, they have heard the jokes about the bad airline food, their friends talk about AVOD, and the free booze, and don't realise that you don't get as part of your ticket with a LCC.

 

[blu]

2 years back, we went Tyrolian (Austrian) FRA-INN for 7 euros + taxes - & it included lunch!
Unfortunately, it was a gale force wind landing in a small Dash - we're sure one wing went up to 12 o'clock (about 300' off landing).

 

[Archphoto]

Where do you think they make their money?

• Food;
• Excess;
• Blankets;
• IFE

Just finished flying with Jetstar Asia from SIN-SGN-HAN-SGN-SIN last week.
My PA and I didn't have a chance to grab breakfast on one flight due to early flight and not much on offer at SGN airport either.

Grabbed lunch on the flight - really BAD idea. 1 mini water (250ml), 1 cup of noodles, 1 woeful sandwich and a 300ml Tiger later and I was $25 out of pocket. Add to that seats that really don't really recline and are held together with gaffer tape, well you get the picture.

And if I hear their "We don't have fragile tags!" one more time, I'll let them know what they can do with their lack of organisational skills.

Any flights I now take from BKK-SIN are now on CX, ok slightly more, but at least the seats are comfortable, the food is edible, I can have a blanket, watch tv and get ample luggage allowance. And the bonus is - I earn mileage and SCs for less than I would have to pay on a JS full fare (approx $180+taxes each way).

It's all a case of you get what you pay for and I've decided that I spend enough time flying - the least I can do is fly in comfort and not be treated like a second class citizen when I check in at cheap airline counters and have a courteous conversation rather than being looked down upon - in Asia or Australia.